Dei Dogi Hotel, Venice

One of the best hotel hacks I’ve found in the last few years has been choosing the off season to travel (an obvious one) but using the advantage of the off season to stay somewhere typically more expensive. Visiting in somewhere in winter, you’ll have exactly the same amenities and the hotel will be in the same location as staying there in the summertime, but odds are it will be priced a lot lower.

Coming back to Venice before Christmas, we chose to stay at Grand Hotel Dei Dogi in the Carnerregio region, looking right onto a canal. Beautiful glass details in the doorways and enormous chandeliers, plush candy striped chairs in the lobby, and sweet details (like cherub faces carved into the doors) welcome you inside. Given the quiet time of year in mid-December, our basic room was upgraded (the quieter the season the more likely you are to receive an upgrade, and it never hurts to ask - nicely! - if there are any available) and we had a beautiful double window view onto the canal outside.

The best inclusion - especially for a city like Venice that is limited in its ‘public transport’ options - is the complimentary shuttle boat that runs from the hotel to St Marks Square several times a day (and back again in the later afternoon). A very fancy boat greets you out the front of the hotel and you’re climbing aboard and skimming over the lagoon before you know it. This was one of my favourite inclusions from our stay, and I only wish we’d had longer to utilise it more. Grand Hotel Dei Dogi had lots of lovely other inclusions, like Acqua Di Parma toiletries, a welcome gift of fresh local pasta, and the staff are accommodating and helpful for whatever you’re needing; transport tips, restaurant suggestions, or even the best route to take a walk of an evening. 

Grand Hotel Dei Dogi
Fondamenta Madonna dell'Orto
3500, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy